Last Updated: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Death At Lollapalooza Updated: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Lollapalooza organizers have entered a critical juncture in the festival's history. Will the new version follow the old? Or are improvements in the works? Photo: Lollapalooza (c) with revision Jeffrey Grimm, 39, died at this year’s opening day Lollapalooza festival in Chicago (August 7). The downtown music festival is sponsored by the Parkway Foundation---a Chicago government connected organization. The fatality did not receive much local media attention and festival promoters C3 Presents apparently didn’t think the death deserved much attention either. There was no official mention of Mr. Grimm's death on the Lollapalooza website. A perfunctory public statement of condolence by the promoter was released following Mr. Grimm’s death. The Cook County medical examiner announced the cause of Mr Grimm's death as hypertensive cardiovascular disease and a tear in the victim’s aorta, according to local news articles. The medical examiner did not---nor did anyone else, as far as Crowd management Strategies is aware---described the circumstances surrounding the suburban Chicago man’s demise. What is known is that Mr. Grimm collapsed during the afternoon Manchester Orchestra set on the Budweiser stage. Manchester Orchestra, with their share of mosh music, raises questions about the crowd scene at the time of the victim's health emergency. Was Mr. Grimm caught in a dense crowd? Was he moshing at the time of his collapse? In other words, were there any contributing causes that led to the festivalgoers death? Or, did Mr Grimm's heart simply give out while he was watching the show? What is also known about the festival, itself, is that Chicago’s annual Lollapalooza in Grant Park is beginning to mimic the controversial legacy of its first incarnation. When Lollapalooza started in 1991, the travelling summer festival showcased the exploding alternative rock scene. Unfortunately, Lollapalooza soon became notorious for its chaotic festival scene that left behind many thousands of injured festivalgoers each year, some with life altering catastrophic injuries. The original Lollapalooza was eventually abandoned because of, among other things it is believed, high insurance costs, community rejection and scores of personal injury lawsuits. A new Chicago-based version of Lollapalooza was resurrected in 2005, promising to be safer and more fan-friendly. Last year, at the fourth annual Lollapalooza, the event made international news when C3 Presents, private festival security and Chicago police were caught offguard when hundreds of ticketless fans invaded the festival during the Rage Against The Machine set. The promoter and its security also lost control of the festival seating mosh area near the stage. The band had to stop their set a number of times to restore some semblance of order and to allow time for security to remove the injured. The last two Lollapaloozas should be sending a signal to city officials and organizers that change is needed in the way the event is planned and managed. But,this is Chicago, a city that has never recovered from the E2 nightclub disaster in 2003. And, frankly, a city that has historically—since the 1968 Democratic Convention and even before--found itself, time and again, incapable of carrying the day when it comes to crowd safety. [ home ][ crowdcafe ][ new ][ crowdshop ][ contact ] Crowd Management Strategies © 1997 - 2006. All rights reserved. Crowdsafe is a registered trademark of Crowd Management Strategies © 2006.